Rise of The Monarchy
by Kudurak
Summary: Surrounded by enemies... friends turned against him, threat of the destruction of Equestria... can Kudurak, the dark pegasus leader of the Shrouded Knights, defeat an evil even he couldn't imagine?
1. Chapters 1-3

(Hi guys! this is my first fanfiction i have published and as it is not complete obviously i need opinions on the story so i can better develop the text as it goes along. So relax and enjoy!)

Chapter 1: Sights

Kudurak stood at the balcony of his cottage just outside Canterlot, staring out at the wide expanse in front of him. He was a Pegasus with large fuzzed wings and a long black and blue mane resembling that of Scratch. His coat was a dark black and his eyes had a deep blue color. He stretched his wings and smiled. All was at peace in his world. No worries shrouded his mind and his life was just how it should be. His financial situation with the royal officials was in decent shape as they had not visited him to collect in a long while.

With the expanse of land in front of him, the dark Pegasus looked around to see if anything was amiss. Even though he was not in his formal attire, he still had to be sure all was well. He was the commander of the Shrouded Knights, the order of guards that were unseen in the castle as they hid in the peaks of the hallways.

They stood watch in case a situation came up where the royal guard could not defend the royal mares. In order for them to stay hidden, they mostly were unicorns and wore light armor comprised of mostly leather plating to protect only what was necessary. Knives were kept at their hooves for combat and they carried a satchel of medical supplies and rations should they need them.

One would never know they existed, and that's how it was to be kept. He had to lie to Luna, who he had relations with in secret, to keep knowledge of their existence unknown. Even Princess Celestia had no idea that they were there. Only one pony knew of their existence: Shining Armor, his administrator and keeper of the secret.

Shining armor usually gave orders to them indirectly and even then he rarely did so. He was only there to ensure that they could prove that they were loyal subjects and not rebels.

Kudurak heard a thud at his door. He turned around and proceeded to walk to the door. When he opened it, he was brought face to face with his fellow knight: Photon.

Photon was the Tech expert of the group, able to hack any barrier with ease. He was the only Pegasus able to use magic and was also the only pony in the Shrouded Knight Corps that did not have a black coat. The requirement of having a black coat did not reflect racial status, but instead was required due to that it faded and hid easily in darkness. He had a short blue mane with a hint of teal showing through and he bore a scar over his left eye. His blue eyes gazed into Kudurak's with the silent message 'there's a problem.'

Kudurak immediately understood and hurried in to grab his gear. He loaded up and was about to walk out, but turned before leaving to see Luna resting peacefully in his bed. He knew he would be gone for a long while and leaned over to give her a kiss on the forehead. Luna smiled in her sleep and continued to dream.

Kudurak turned around and walked towards the door with traces of tears in his eyes, for he knew that this might be the last time he sees her. When Photon interrupted his day off, he knew it was of great importance.

The two looked at each other and nodded, then turned to face the city. As they turned, their shadows slowly enveloped them and they disappeared without a trace.

When they arrived at the city, there was no pony in sight. Not even Colgate, who took a walk down the city's side paths every day. The two Pegasi immediately rushed into a gallop as they went towards the castle, thinking that maybe the ponies would be there for a meeting or some event. Photon looked at Kudurak as he explained what happened:

Earlier that day, Princess Celestia was in the library of the castle studying in deep thought on something that had been bothering her for the past few days. The sun had been growing slower in its rise and decent, even when she used all her power to do so. She felt there was something amiss. Her eyes scanned the text she was reading, deep in thought and almost unable to be disturbed.

Suddenly, one of the royal guards rushed in and immediately chained the princess before she knew what was happening. She turned in shock as she looked into the eyes of a guard who gave her a sinister grin. He was not in any normal condition. His eyes glowed a poison green color and his pupils had gone into a vertical position. His teeth had been somehow sharpened and his coat has been deepened into a dark grey. Celestia tried to break free of her shackles but to no avail. She then attempted magic and quickly saw that her horn had been tied with a cloth that prevented her from using her abilities. She felt weak and powerless for the first time in her life. The guard simply laughed at her attempts to break free and started dragging her to the doorway. He thought his victory was unseen. However, he was unknowingly being watched by a pair of deep blue eyes that followed his path to the castle dungeon.

Photon then rushed off and gathered the Shrouded Knights in the courtyard. He told them to wait for him to return with Kudurak before entering. He then ran off to tell Kudurak when a pony on the street turned and bit him as he passed. He fell down onto the street as he felt like he was just stabbed by a serrated knife. He decided to ignore the pain and rushed to grab Kudurak, who stood at his balcony.

Kudurak's eyes widened as he heard the story, and before he had time to understand what happened to begin with, they had reached the front gates, where the Shrouded Knights stood in their shady glory.

Kudurak addressed them as their commanding officer, "Shrouded Knights. We have been attacked by one or many of our own. I have had very little time to understand the situation but I fear this is even worse than anypony here could possibly know. To be safe, I must know if anypony has been bitten or stabbed by the aggressors."

Photon reluctantly denied this question as he feared he would be deemed unable to assist. He simply shook his head as he asked.

With all others in clear knowledge of the situation, they all shook their heads no truthfully. As they gave their unanimous 'no', Kudurak arranged them by groups in squads of 3: Photon and 2 others were to guard Kudurak as he entered the castle. 2 others were sent to secure Princess Luna from his cottage. The rest were to enter and search the perimeter of any suspicious activity.

With one unanimous shroud covering them all as they nodded in understanding of their objectives, they disappeared into the darkness.

Chapter 2: The Torture

The inner halls of the enormous castle were silent and empty. It seemed as if nopony had been here recently. Kudurak was trotting along the marble floor, his hooves making a steady clop as he neared the Dungeon doors. Following closely behind him, but unseen to anypony, were the other three Shrouded Knights who were to protect him.

Photon stared with deep focus at the scenario, completely at attention to the task at hand, when he was suddenly struck with pain beyond his belief. His nerves tensed and his muscles twitched as the quick jolt of agonizing pain shot through his body, rendering him completely immobile for a good few seconds. He would have yelped, but the pain was so intense it dismissed the ability to speak or yell. The pain faded after a few seconds as he was left in immense shock. Why did his body do that? As he retraced the pain to its origin, he found that his wound from earlier was swollen and actually carried a faint glow. He ignored the open wound and forced himself onward, the pain slowly starting to creep its way back.

The Knights were no more than ten feet from Kudurak as he made his way through the halls. After a short 5 minutes of trotting along, he reached a pair of tall, rustic doors with double chain locks on them. Each door had half of a skull imprinted on them and when they were closed it formed a head. The normally brave stallion glanced in horror and disgust at the eerie set of doors. The long pause he had to take in the sight was just long enough for the Shrouded Knights to catch up and get into position.

Kudurak gulped and walked up to the doors. When he reached the rusted blocks of metal, he uttered the phrase: "In our Defeat, we learn discipline. In our Death, we learn nothing. In our capture, we are reformed."

The doors did not respond to this phrase. They sat with the ever-scarring skull imprinted into the center of the set. Suddenly, the doors started to creak and the chains shattered into dust. The doors opened with a loud screech as they drug along the recently polished marble floor.

Inside the doorway was a wall of darkness. A few barely lit torches dotted the walls as the four stallions entered the chamber.

Kudurak walked cautiously as the doorway slowly shut behind them. They were alone now, unable to contact the others even if the really had to. Kudurak still walked as if he was alone, even though he knew he had company with him. The dark Pegasus approached the inner halls of the dungeon, where he could hear faint sounds of laughter and muffles of cringing pain. The sounds grew louder as the knights approached a chamber with a faint glow. The muffles of pain grew more intense and the laughter became somehow distorted.

When they finally reached the entrance, Kudurak signaled for the other three to take up assault positions, and then proceeded to walk into the chamber.

The dark torture room that he had walked into was lined with skulls of stallions and decorated with splats of dried blood from centuries in the past when torture and death was common in equestrian society. In the chamber stood a royal guard with a hand drill and a tall mare with her hooves tied down to a torture bed. The hand drill mentioned was being drilled into her hooves as she tried to scream, but was halted by the rag tied around her mouth. Tears soaked her cheeks as blood slowly emerged from the wounds made by the drill. Her horn was tied off and placed into a machine that sat a mere few feet behind her.

The guard heard Kudurak enter and halted his actions to turn and face the furious stallion that stood behind him. He merely grinned at the dark Pegasus and looked around the chamber.

"Ah, Kudurak, I knew you would follow me but I did not think that you would be so foolish as to come alone."' The darkened earthpony said as he placed the drill on the torture bed.

"I knew you wouldn't be a challenge, so I decided it best to come alone." Kudurak said with confidence as he knew this was a lie.

"Hmpf. You don't think too far ahead do you? I might have the princess of the sun and you might have caught me in the act of killing her, but what of the Princess of the Moon. Oh, what was her name? Luna, was it?"

Kudurak's eyes widened as he spoke. What if his guards had failed and she was in trouble?

"you see, Kudurak, my kind cannot be defeated by the likes of mere soldiers. We are the disciples of the one and only true ruler of Equestria. "

"and who might that be?" Kudurak said with a hint of worry in his voice.

"His name is known by few, he lurks in shadows, and he is trusted by many. Many don't know of his secret alliance to the Corruption, So much so that he actually isn't aware of it himself."

"Whoever it is, I will find him and I will be sure he is brought to the guillotine for immediate execution!" Kudurak yelled as he grit his teeth. He could feel his impatience for this pony growing steadily.

"HAH! You are a fool Kudurak! You will never catch him! And I will be there to see that you never do!" the demented pony said as he charged at Kudurak with a dagger.

Kudurak rushed forward and dodged the dagger by mere millimeters, then turned and immediately brought his shurikens from his forehoof and threw them at the aggressor, pulling the dagger from his hoof and pinning it to the wall. The demented pony turned with rage and leaped at Kudurak with full force, knocking the stunned Pegasus to the wall with a loud thud. Kudurak quickly regained his stature and ducked to the side as he dodged another attack from the aggressor and returned the attack with a slash of his kunai that he kept on his left forehoof. The kunai cut into the side of the pony's face and ran across his eye, blinding the stallion in the process. The guard shrieked as his eye was cut through the iris and he fell over with his hoof over the incision. Before the guard could recover, he felt a sharp pain shoot through his nerves from his spine. The dark Pegasus whom he'd been fighting had gotten the upper hand, and used the opportunity to drive a kunai through his opponent's spine, separating the nerves from his spine and nearly cutting off all connection to his lower body. The stallion in question screamed in pain as his eyes widened and he felt his strength disappearing entirely from the trauma.

The guard shook in sheer horror as he felt a wet substance running down his side. He immediately turned to see what it was and found his dark grey coat soaked in blood. He was bleeding out and there was nothing he could do to stop it. As he tried to turn over in an effort to block the wound, Kudurak swiped again at the pony, shredding through his stomach and causing his internal organs to spill onto the floor where he started to choke on his own blood. He stared with absolute fear at his body, seeing his internal organs sprawled across the wood floor before him. He tried with all his remaining strength to pull his mangled tissue into his body again as he swapped his terrified glare to his opponent, who simply walked away as he slowly lost consciousness. His acid green eyes dilated as he finally leaned his head back and died.

Kudurak walked over to the princess of the sun, who was still in pain from the hand drill which lied upon the torture bed. He looked up at the recently tortured mare, who in turn gave him a faint glance. She was almost unconscious.

Kudurak knew this was not the time to sit idly by. He had to do something. He took out his kunai and slowly reached for the ropes holding the princess in place. With one quick twitch, the kunai easily cut through the worn ropes and set the princess almost entirely free. He reached over her head, releasing her horn from the machine behind her and letting her get down from the slightly suspended table.

She lay on the ground as he cut the cloth from her mouth, allowing her to speak.

"Who...who are you?" the princess said as she seemed to be more afraid of the stallion than the guard, even though she had plenty of power at her disposal.

"Fear not my liege, for I am Kudurak, a humble servant of your empire," Kudurak said humbly as he bowed to the towering mare before him.

"Why have you come alone to save me, and why have I never heard your name before?" she asked, confused.

"I…I…am not a regular servant of your empire, your highness," he said as he lowered his head.

"Oh? And how is that? I know everypony in Equestria and yet you are the only pony I do not know. Are you from here?"

"Yes, your majesty. I am from here, but I serve a higher purpose than even your guards do. The position I serve under is so important and crucial to the castle's safety that neither you nor Princess Luna know of us. However, this scenario calls for drastic measures and I cannot do so while you doubt my loyalty. I will tell you of my profession and my purpose."

"Very well. Go on."

"I am Kudurak, high commander of the Shrouded Knights. We are secret order of battle-hardened soldiers who have trained in silent and stealth arts. We are never seen by anypony and we sit in the darkest areas of the castle and wait for anything that the guards can't handle. We watch everything anypony does in the kingdom and if we see anypony doing something they shouldn't, we put them in line. In fact, there are 3 of us above you currently, watching your every move."

"Wha-What?" She said with her head moving around the room to try to find these knights the stallion spoke of.

Kudurak arched his head back and spoke with a commanding tone, "Knights! Relieve stealth protocol! Meet your ruler in person."

Suddenly, three shadows pulled from the ceiling and landed in front of the Princess. Two black Pegasi and a single grey Pegasus. The three acknowledged the Princess and all four bowed as they said:

"We are your humble servants, my liege."

Chapter 3: Corruption

The five ponies ran through the castle to the courtyard, where the rest of the ponies were to be waiting for them. As they entered the courtyard, two soldiers rushed to Kudurak, saying that Luna was in trouble. Kudurak froze when he heard this and Celestia raised an eyebrow at him, wondering why Luna wasn't in the castle with her to begin with.

Kudurak made a poor poker face and turned to address the situation at hand. He told the squad to meet at his cottage and to secure the perimeter. They nodded in agreement and disappeared into the shadows. He then signaled the other four to follow him and make haste.

Celestia had a slight limp to her gallop due to the recent drill wound in her hoof, and the other three decided to hold position in defending the princess as she made her way to the cottage. Kudurak, not wondering or knowing of what was going on behind him, bolted as fast as he could to his cottage, leaving the other four behind.

Multiple thoughts ran through his mind as Kudurak made longer and longer strides, narrowly avoiding benches and rocks in front of him as he dashed through the narrow walkways of the city. 'What if he was too late? What if Luna was dead? What if she was captured?' all these thoughts ran through his mind at once, causing him to start to shed tears.

They made their way around the last turn to his cottage, and smelled something different in the air. It smelled faintly like smoke…

Kudurak's eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he stared at the burning mess that was his cottage. The flames engulfed the entire building and started to break apart the supports inside. Seeing the dancing destruction as she finally rounded the corner to see, Celestia brought a cloud over the cottage and put out the fire with a long drench of water.

Without any thought, Kudurak ran to the smoldering remains of his cottage and desperately tried to locate his lover and princess. He searched in every nook and cranny for signs of her, but with no luck to aid his struggle. He stopped and stood among the rubble with his head bowed.

The Alicorn who had been following them made her way to him, wondering why he had stopped looking around. When she neared him, she began to hear sobs from him and she placed her hoof on his shoulder. The stallion next to her turned his head to reveal his ever flowing tears from his eyes. She gasped as she wondered why he was crying like this.

"Why are you crying, soldier?" she asked sincerely.

"I… I loved her. She was the best thing in my life and now she is gone. After my days at guard, I would head to my cottage where she would be waiting for me, arms open for a loving embrace to welcome me home. We did everything together when we could, though her royal duties prevented us from being together in public. To me, there is nopony who is equal to her beauty." He said with tears still soaking his cheeks and sobs from his voice.

"Oh my… I never knew that's where she went off to all those times..." The Princess said as she tried to comfort him. She did not know, however, that Kudurak had developed an extremely strong emotional block during his career, and this had been the first time he had let his feelings go in years.

Kudurak accepted her comfort and relaxed his head onto her shoulder, letting more tears escape his eyes as he did so. Photon and the other two knights stood further back, standing guard. Photon glanced over to see the emotionally crippled Pegasus with the princess. In that instance, he began to sob as well, but not before another jolt shot through his body and caused him to shake and close his eyes in pain. he opened his eyes after the pain had worn off to reveal an acid green glow replacing his iris…


	2. Chapters 4-6

**Hey guys! sorry for the wait but i had a writers block in the middle of chapter 4. any errors i find in the text will be fixed shortly. please feel free to point out grammar issues that would bother you and break the immersion of the story! I enjoy hearing other's opinions so please tell me what you think! Enjoy!**

Chapter 4- Suspicion

Photon's head slowly raised itself to reveal his blue eyes being invaded by an acid green dye. His scar began to reflect on both eyes and his fur coat began to show traces of deepening colors. He felt like his body was growing taller, but at the time he noticed no visible difference. The other two unicorns that were with him looked at him in confusion as his eyes began to morph. He ignored the physical changes as best he could and proceeded to walk towards Kudurak, who stood beside the Princess of the Sun.

"S-Sir… our squads are _prep_are_d f_-f_or immediate _action should you need them…" Photon said as his voice began to slightly distort. His tone deepened and began to almost glitch as he spoke, causing Kudurak to look at him with suspicion. He looked… off… like something was wrong with him. This caused him to become uneasy as he feared that his best soldier was infected. He decided to deny this fact for now, instead focusing on the burnt cottage before him. He stared deeply at the ruined wood ashes and wet floorboards… 'There was no sign that she was even here.' he thought.

His eyes squinted as he took one last look over the smoldering remains of his home, then he saw something under one of the floorboards. He reached down with his head to pick up the item that had eluded his eyes for so long.

It was a journal entry…

_"Dear Diary,_

_My, was today interesting. I awoke from my sleep to find my stallion whom I so adored missing from my company. To add to the wonder, a pair of shady stallions knocked on the door today asking if Kudurak was home. I declined this as it was the truth, but something just seemed… off… about them. I can't exactly pinpoint what it was, but there was just something. It was unsettling, indeed._

_Odd thing is, when they left I started to hear noises from outside. I'm sure it's fine as I am known to be very paranoid at times. Anyway, I…"_

The rest had a stain of blood as if she never got to finish the entry in the diary. Kudurak's eyes widened in horror as he feared she was attacked or even killed just hours after he had left. He began to think what would have happened if he had stayed. Would she have been here still? But worse was the fact that either way, one of the princesses would have been harmed or killed no matter what he did.

Princess Celestia levitated the entry with her magic to read the passage that had given him such distress. She gasped with worry that her dear sister, whom she had recently brought back to her, was killed before she could properly adjust to her new life.

They turned back to regroup with the Unicorns that stood guard behind them. Kudurak wiped the tears from his eyes and returned from his depression.

"Alright," Kudurak said with a serious tone, "We have to find out where these unknown enemies took the other royal mare. Princess, is there anything you can tell us that might give us some leads?"

"Hmmm…. I might have an idea of where to look. There is a knight born in darkness that roams and hunts in the fields north of here. His history is mostly unknown, but I feel he would be a great asset to our cause." Celestia said as if she knew exactly where to find this mysterious soldier.

"Do we know his name?"

"Due to his shy nature, we are unaware of his name."

"So we are looking for a pony that we don't know the name for? Perfect…"

"Fear not, for he will most likely reveal himself to us later."

Suddenly, a voice shot from behind them. "Too bad you will never find him…"

They turned to find Photon standing with his head tilted down, his mane darkening in color and his coat entirely black. His hooves had pure darkness rising from them and his eyes looked up with a sinister green glow. He was fully corrupted.

"Oh no…" Kudurak said as he grew fearful of this pony.

Photon chuckled with a sinister smile as his teeth sharpened to a fine point. He glared into Kudurak's eyes.

"You cannot stop the corruption, Kudurak," Photon's voice deepened as he spoke and it became more distorted, "We are too far into our takeover for us to be stopped now. If you resist us, you will die."

Kudurak knew not what to say, for he had never seen Photon act this way before. He stepped back and tried to make distance between them, his hoof pulling Princess Celestia with him as he moved.

"Do you think that getting rid of us will simply end this war? No… we are unstoppable. We are collective. We. Are. Corruption." Photon said as he made his way closer to Kudurak, grinning as he walked and causing vegetation nearby to wither out.

"I WILL NOT LET YOU HARM LUNA!" Kudurak yelled as he twitched his hooves to bring out dual kunai, one in each hoof, and leaped at the corrupted Pegasus.

Photon flinched and dodged the raging Kudurak and in turn flipped around to toss a shuriken into his leg, causing him to fall to the dirt before him. Kudurak quickly recovered and threw his kunai at Photon, landing one in the cheek and the other in his wing. Photon screamed in pain and pulled out both kunai from their entry wounds, blood dripping from the openings. He immediately dashed forward, moving left and right as he approached, then leaped at him to attack. Kudurak attempted to defend himself but before he could, the opposing Pegasus disappeared from view, almost as if he just disintegrated. Kudurak looked around frantically before realizing that he had been wounded yet again, for the Pegasus had managed to get behind him and lodged a knife into his wing. Kudurak reacted by ducking down to pull out a pair of wrist blades, each hooked to his hooves by a leather brace with a curved, serrated blade sitting on the side of them. He reached up and stabbed straight through Photon's abdomen as he jumped over him. Kudurak then flipped over Photon, pulling the injured Pegasus with him as he leaped over into the air before finally slamming him to the ground. He pulled the blades from Photon and stood over the defeated Pegasus.

Kudurak reached over Photon to deliver the finishing blow, a stab directly into the heart. Before he could end the conflict, however, Photon grinned at Kudurak and disappeared into darkness. The arm blade hit nothing, but instead went straight into the rough dirt below.

"Dammit!" Kudurak said as he put away the blades.

"It's ok. He couldn't have gone far." Celestia said while she approached him.

"I could have ended it. I could have!"

Kudurak stood in frustration over the site of the recently disappeared Pegasus. He grunted and turned back to see the unicorn soldiers staring at him, their eyes wide in disbelief. They had never seen Kudurak fight like that before. He usually didn't fight with them as he mostly stood behind and gave orders from the shadows. Seeing this skillful Pegasus defeat his best soldier truly gave them a new perspective on their leader. Kudurak, frustrated with his defeat leaned his head back and dislodged the knife that was embedded into his wing.

"Ugh. What's done is done, and there is nothing I can do to change that. Let's start heading to Ponyville. Maybe we'll find clues there." Kudurak said as he pondered what to do now. He was entirely clueless as to where to start. He also knew that the princess was too badly wounded to walk such a distance. "We have to find something for the princess to lie on so she can recover. This walking will do a number on her wounds."

The unicorns nodded and left to find a carriage. Kudurak then turned to the princess.

"You must rest for your wounds to heal. Please lie down and rest your hooves."

She nodded and lied down next to a nearby rock so she could lay her head down. Her hoof throbbed in pain as the wound was still healing. The drill had gone straight through the bone and had left the muscles shredded. This wound would take time to heal.

"When we reach Ponyville," Celestia said, "We need to find Twilight. She can help my wounds and might have a lead on where we could find the assassin we seek."

"Alright. So we are to head to Ponyville and search for this lavender filly named Twilight Sparkle?" Kudurak responded while he tried to think of what she looked like.

"How did you know she was lavender?" The princess asked.

"I may not be known by many, but I certainly know of most. I do, after all, watch every move made in the palace when I am on duty."

"Oh. Right," She said while she looked at the expanse just beyond the cottage.

The unicorns returned with the royal carriage being pulled by their magic. The princess turned and summoned the strength to stand and walk to the carriage. The wound had started to drain her willpower.

Kudurak instructed the unicorns to pull the carriage, and the loyal soldiers did so without question. By this time, it would have been late in the afternoon, but the princess could not summon the strength to move the sun to the right location. She instead tried to simply relax and allow herself to heal.

The four ponies walked down the road with Kudurak behind the rest of them. He still could not understand what was going on, and he needed time to ponder this.

Chapter 5- Curiosity

The four traveled along the dirt roads that dotted Equestria, changing routes when necessary to avoid confrontation. The came up the last hill and looked ahead. Ponyville sat just a few hundred meters out. As they walked into the town, Kudurak took the lead. Having pondered his thoughts and getting everything straight, he knew what must be done.

Ponies all throughout the town stopped and looked in shock as they saw the golden carriage being hauled by unfamiliar stallions and the princess in pain sitting in the chair. Kudurak ignored the ponies and continued walking towards his objective: the library. He might not have met anypony in this town, but he certainly had known about some of them and knew where they each lived.

The library came close in sight. Celestia sat in the carriage still, tending to her wound and trying not to break into tears when she pulled the shards of metal that had broken off of the drill from her incision. This was indeed a great deal of pain for her to go through.

Kudurak approached the door and knocked with his hoof. Suddenly, a small purple and green dragon appeared from the door.

"Hello? My name is Spike. May I help you?" The dragon asked with a look of confusion, as he had never seen Kudurak before.

"Greetings. I seek the unicorn by the name of Twilight." Kudurak responded with his usual mellow tone of voice.

Spike then turned his head and yelled into the library: "Twilight! You have a visitor!"

Moments passed before Twilight made her way to the opened top half of her door. The lavender filly went to respond to her visitor, but was stopped by the sight of who was there. She looked surprised to see Kudurak standing there as she had expected to see someone whom she actually knew.

"Umm… May I help you?" Twilight asked in confusion. Her purple eyes gave the impression that she had no idea who this stallion at her door was. A typical reaction.

"Yes. You are Twilight Sparkle, I presume?" Kudurak responded.

"That's me." She replied.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kudurak. I guard the palace under certain circumstances and I was told that you are the only one who could help us."

"Me? Whatever for?" She asked as if completely baffled at the statement. She could not see the injured princess or the carriage as the door had been blocking her view of them.

"Her majesty, Princess Celestia, has been seriously injured; Princess Luna... has been captured, and the city of Canterlot is in danger. A corruption has swept through the city, claiming the bodies of more than half of the city's population and is growing as we speak. They are completely demented and unable to be reasoned with," He replied, being extremely straight forward and looking at her with a serious stare.

"Wh-What?!" she replied. "Where is Princess Celestia?"

"Right here," he said as he pulled the door further open to reveal the injured princess sitting in the carriage.

The filly's eyes widened as she looked in shock at her mentor.

"PRINCESS!" she yelled as she quickly unlatched the bottom half of the door and ran toward the injured mare. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. I'm fine," Princess Celestia said while she tended to her wound more. The pain was growing more intense by the minute as the wound had begun to swell. Blood had begun slowly flowing out of the wound the more she tried to tend to it. The Lavender Filly turned to glare at Kudurak, almost as if she thought he had done this to her.

"What did you do to her?!" Twilight yelled and gave Kudurak an uncomfortable stare.

"No, Twilight," Celestia responded from behind Twilight. "Kudurak had nothing to do with my injury. In fact, if he hadn't shown up, I would've been most likely dead."

"But I thought Alicorns were immortal?"

"They are, but the corruption has a machine in their possession. It holds an Alicorn by the horn and suspends his or her immortality for the time that it is active. It is dark magic and we thought it had been destroyed entirely, but it seems they have figured out how to reconstruct it."

"Precisely," Kudurak interrupted. "One of the guards had her hostage and I managed to take him out before he could kill her, but not before he drilled a hole into her hoof."

"Woah, woah, woah, wait a second. What's the 'corruption'?" Twilight asked with her head cocked to the side.

"We will explain later," Kudurak said. "But right now we have more pressing matters to attend to, such as Celestia's Hoof."

"Oh. Right." Twilight said before helping the princess into her cottage.

The two soldiers stood guard outside in case anything went amiss while Twilight was healing Princess Celestia. Kudurak stood behind the princess as Twilight began using magic to heal the wound. The princess shrieked in pain as the wound forced itself to close a bit more. The bone that had been pierced began to heal and the ligaments that had been torn rebuilt themselves. Twilight could do no more than speed up the healing process. Full healing was not something she had the opportunity to study.

Afterwards, Kudurak and Princess Celestia began to tell Twilight of their journey thus far.

"Princess?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, my student?" The princess responded as she wondered what she could be asking.

"Who is this strange Pegasus who is with you? I have never seen or heard of him before and he didn't really bring himself up when he explained what was going on."

"Well..." Celestia said as they both observed Kudurak as he looked through the library. "Kudurak is a… special Pegasus."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked as if intrigued by her choice of words.

"Kudurak isn't known by anypony. Not even me."

"What? How?"

"Kudurak is a part of a secret division of troops managed by your brother, Shining Armor. However, Shining Armor is not in charge of the platoon. He simply manages and acknowledges their existence should they need to be explained to a high official. Kudurak is a bold Pegasus and he is the only pony I know who can be almost emotionless. The thing that I really don't understand is how Kudurak still does not have a cutie mark, even at his age. It is most curious. He is a good soldier and fights like water. Why he doesn't have it yet is beyond me…"

"So you are saying that he hasn't found what he is best at yet? That is indeed strange."

"Yes, and do you remember how Luna has been leaving the castle for prolonged periods of time lately?"

Twilight looked at her with a confirming nod, "Yes, I do."

Celestia paused as she sifted through her thoughts for a good choice of words, "I discovered that Princess Luna and Kudurak are… in love."

Twilight's jaw dropped and took a double take at Kudurak before returning her gaze to Celestia. Celestia returned the filly's confused and surprised expression with a confirming nod.

"Yes. My sister and this Pegasus have been seeing each other for quite some time. It seems she also is the only one who can spark emotion in him. When we went to search for her at his cottage, he broke into tears. Although I have not known him very long, I could tell that it was the first time he had cried in a long time."

Twilight looked away and began to ponder what she had been told. This was quite the situation. With Celestia crippled, Luna captured, and Kudurak's arrival, this had been an interesting day for the filly. She just had no idea what to think of this.

Kudurak sifted through the bookshelves, completely ignoring the two ponies conversing behind him. He had to find a document or something that would allow him to find the assassin they seek. He knew he would have to go alone in order to find him. As he sifted through the hundreds of book shelves, he started to become worried. What if he couldn't find the Pegasus he was looking for? What if he was too late to save Luna? These and many more questions shrouded his mind and it caused him to lose focus at the task at hand.

'Stay focused…' he said to himself while he looked through one of the shelves. He passed over book after book until one caught his eye: a book titled "_Hidden Assassins of The North_". This had to be the book he was looking for. He immediately pulled the book down and sifted through its contents. He looked through each page carefully, looking for the pony that the princess had described to him earlier.

"Partymikk…" he said silently to himself. "A dark Pegasus with a deep grey coat and a pair of dragon wings… Living in the outskirts of the Crystal Empire… Separated from the rest of the world..."

The two ponies behind him looked up in wonder.

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

"I found the Pegasus we are looking for," Kudurak said with a faint hint of excitement in his voice.

"Good," Princess Celestia added. "Maybe our travels did not go in vain. I shall join you on your trip."

Kudurak stood back in shock. "But Princess, your hoof is badly hurt. How do you…?" But before he could finish she held her horn down and summoned the strength to heal herself. Her horn glistened with a golden glow as she focused all her strength to it. The wound began slowly closing and soon completely disappeared. She lifted her head.

"I said I am going…" She said with determination clearly audible in her tone. "But first we must get rest. The trip is long and it will take three days' time to reach the Crystal Empire without the use of trains.

"Agreed," Kudurak said.

Twilight and Princess Celestia lay down to sleep. Kudurak found a nice corner and forced himself to lay down, even if the emotional trauma was still taking its toll on him. He had to save her… He had to save Luna…

Chapter 6- Determination

The floor rumbled as the Equestrian train made its way along the rails leading to the Crystal Empire. Towards the front of the car were the two unicorn soldiers that were to guard the princess. Twilight sat in the middle of the train car and stared blankly out the glassless window. The fact that the trains in Equestria did not have glass in the windows was not normally a good thing, especially for those trips to the Crystal Empire where the weather could turn from a spring day to a winter blizzard in a few seconds. Kudurak was in the back of the car with Princess Celestia, who could walk on her own at this point but was too weak from forcibly healing her wound with magic to do so. She simply lay on a double wide seat that sat a bit further back from Kudurak's seat. Celestia looked up at Kudurak.

"Why are you so intent on keeping me safe?" Celestia asked, "You haven't left my side since we started this expedition."

"Princess, I am sworn to guard you at all costs," Kudurak responded, "I am even expected to be willing to sacrifice my own life if it means you will be kept alive. The fact that Luna was captured by these 'Corrupted' ponies is bad enough. I don't want to lose my other responsibility as well."

"But you have done more than enough as it is. You have no need to stick to me like glue if you know I'll be safe."

"Yes, but-"

"Excuse me," Twilight interrupted, "But I was meaning to tell you, Princess, that I have heard word that some of my friends are at the Crystal Empire."

"Ah, yes. Maybe one of them can help us with our search," Princess Celestia replied. "For now, let's just relax until we arrive."

The other two ponies nodded and turned to lie down. Twilight decided to take a nap. All of these events going on had deprived her of much needed rest. She needed time to think about what was going on. While she did this, Kudurak had begun to make himself comfortable in his seat.

Celestia, however, couldn't shake this feeling that she actually knew Kudurak, in contrast to what he claimed and what she acknowledged. Something just seemed… off. 'Could he be?' she thought, 'no… he couldn't be. I'm probably just thinking too much. There isn't anything to worry about.'

The train made its way down the rusted tracks. They were not far from Ponyville. In fact, they had only covered a mile's worth of distance. The train soon found its way to a bridge separating Ponyville from Canterlot, as they had to backtrack to reach the Crystal Empire. A chasm stretched for miles below them, fog shrouding the true depth of it. They said that the chasm was created when a powerful empire fell, and the ground opened up to swallow the kingdom and its inhabitants. Soon following, of course, the ponies had to find a way past the crevice that was left behind and built a thick framed bridge held up by magic fields that were held in place by predetermined unicorns that stood on either side of the bridge. In order to save energy, the bridge functioned as a draw bridge. Hinges were placed on either side and it was only raised when someone needed to cross.

The winds had begun to pick up due to the high altitude they had reached while crossing the chasm before them. The train began to sway, making Kudurak feel uneasy as he was not one for this type of travel. The train began to slow down so that it would not sway too much and tip over. A plummet from that height was only survivable to a Pegasus or an Alicorn, and even then the chances were very slim. Kudurak began to gaze outside in order to calm himself, when he saw what appeared to be a rainbow geared on a collision course with the train car. His eyes widened and he jumped up, turning to the other ponies in the car.

"HIT THE DECK!" Kudurak yelled and immediately threw himself over the princess. A crash was heard and the ambience outside suddenly became noticeably louder. Cries of terror erupted and faded away. Kudurak waited a moment so that he could be sure that the princess was alright and that she wasn't injured. He had not paid any attention to where he jumped, except that he jumped to the princess. He opened his eyes to find his muzzle millimeters from Celestia's face. He gasped and jumped up, fully aware of what almost happened. He blushed and began to turn away from her, trying to focus on the object that collided with the train. Smoke had built up where the impact was, and the side of the train had been blown open. The two Unicorn guards were nowhere to be found, leaving Kudurak with the depressing presumption that the impact knocked them out of the train. The smoke began to settle to reveal a blue Pegasus sprawled out on her back. He walked closer to get a better look, and motioned to pull out his wrist blade. His foreleg turned and bent upwards to reveal the blade as he neared the Pegasus still motionless on the ground. He approached her and pinned down her chest with his free hoof, then held the blade to her throat. With one quick move he could end the pony's life.

The Pegasus lay on her back with her head aimed towards the roof of the car. Her eyes opened and she gasped in shock when she saw the serrated blade sitting mere inches from her neck, with a dark Pegasus looming over her. Violet eyes stared up in horror at Kudurak. Within seconds the Pegasus began to breathe heavily, and she became noticeably scared. Tears began to form in her eyes.

"WAIT!" Twilight shrieked.

Kudurak turned to Twilight, who stood there with a begging expression to let the Pegasus go. With a bit of hesitation, he pulled the blade back from the accused Pegasus. Twilight sighed.

"Thank you," she said, and turned to the startled filly who was still teary from the experience. "Are you alright, Rainbow Dash?"

The blue Pegasus looked up at Twilight. "Y-yeah… I'm… ok. Was just a little startled, that's all…" she replied with traces of fear still existent in her voice.

"Why are you here?" Kudurak asked while still staring suspiciously at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash gulped. She was still in shock from the traumatizing experience she had just endured. She stood shakily before Kudurak, her hooves shifting around while she tried to keep her balance.

"I… I was doing my morning flight routine with Spitfire when some armored Pegasus rushed up and bit me," Rainbow said shakily, "he knocked me out of balance and I began to lose altitude until I crashed into this train."

Kudurak's eyes widened at what she said. He instantly made a quick move to his shoulder and threw a set of chains at her. They began to shift positions mid-flight until they became an open trap. Rainbow Dash tried to run but was quickly restrained and knocked back against the wooden wall with a thud. She began to try to free herself, but to no avail.

"Hey! Why did you-"she was halted mid statement by Kudurak pushing his hoof on her chest and pinning her down. Twilight stood there, confused and shocked at what just happened. Kudurak began to stare at Rainbow with searching eyes. He looked her over carefully before noticing a bite mark on her neck, acidic green fluid oozing out from the marks.

"You are not stable," Kudurak said while he glared into Rainbow's eyes with a serious look. "The bite has poisoned you, and it won't be long before the venom mutates your body and corrupts your mind."

"Say what?" Rainbow Dash said scared.

"The Pegasus that bit you was corrupted, and when a corrupted pony bites you, the bite introduces a venom that slowly takes control of your body. My dearest friend fell victim to such venom, and I was forced to fight him because of it."

Twilight began to realize what was going on and turned to cast a spell, her horn glowing fiercely.

A force field began to form along the center of the car, putting Celestia and Twilight on one side, and Kudurak and Rainbow on the other.

"What are you doing?!" Kudurak shouted.

Twilight glared at Kudurak with a wicked stare.

"Protecting my Princess from you…"

Suddenly, the train car started to rumble as Kudurak and Rainbow Dash separated and tried to break the force field. Their efforts were in vain, however, and the train car split, sending the two Pegasi hurdling back to the rear of the car. The car, now having split in two, began to separate. Kudurak desperately tried to get to the other side, but the shield blocked him from doing so. Celestia saw what was happening but was into much shock to do anything.

In one last attempt, Kudurak lunged at the barrier, flicking out his other wrist blade. He lunged, fore hooves first, into the barrier. His blades did nothing but crack the barrier and Twilight released a wave of energy that pushed him back to the rear of the car, his back smashing into the wall and splintering the wood. Twilight proceeded to use her magic to push the separated half of the train back, further preventing any more attempts at breaking her barrier. Celestia tried to get up and help Kudurak but Twilight pushed her back with a second barrier, saying: "This is for your protection, my liege."

His strength diminished, Kudurak began to lose consciousness. A loud thud hit the train as the now split set of train cars disembarked the bridge. The back section of the car derailed and came to a forced stop, while the font half continued on.

With that, Kudurak blacked out.


	3. Chapter 7-9

Chapter 7- Betrayal

The arctic breeze chilled Kudurak when he awoke from his slumber. Snowflakes flew by and snow built up on the splintered wood floor. The sky was filled with a heavy set of clouds and the view was limited to only a few meters ahead, obscured by the blizzard-like climate.

Kudurak looked around from where he awoke, trying to survey the area. He glanced down to find bandages over his stomach and hind leg. Fearing he had no idea where he was, Kudurak attempted to get up, but was stopped by a sharp pain in his chest and leg. There were definitely broken bones. Fighting the pain from his injuries, he got up and tried to recover his bearings. He walked out from the back of the split train car to find a small, crude fire pit built just outside the remains of the car. A figure sat near the crackling fire and he began to hear crying.

Kudurak proceeded to walk closer until he saw Rainbow Dash curled up next to the fire, a light leather coat sitting on her shoulders. Her head lay in her fore hooves as she wept.

"Hello?" Kudurak said weakly. The injuries began to ache and the pain soon became a splitting jab in his side, forcing him to sit down. He cringed when he landed, and proceeded to sit up. He turned and looked at Rainbow Dash, who continued to cry as if he wasn't there. Kudurak said nothing, but felt sorrow for the Pegasus. He knew that she as in a bad situation, far worse than his own. He then lowered his head to gaze at the fire.

"…How long…?" Rainbow asked faintly.

Kudurak looked up in confusion. "What?"

"I said… How long?" Rainbow sniffled.

Kudurak gazed at her and frowned. "Four days… max."

"Oh… I thought it might be sometime around then."

"Yeah… it isn't a fast change…"

"Will it hurt?"

Rainbow raised her head from her fore hooves and looked at Kudurak with a worried expression. Tears formed under her eyes. Kudurak found it difficult to say the next few words and gazed deep into Rainbow's big violet eyes.

"Yes… very much so."

Rainbow Dash frowned. "So I am supposed to die like this? Alone and freezing?"

"Alone?" Kudurak asked.

"Without a companion? Nobody to call my own?"

Rainbow halted her statement and simply gazed back at the fire. Kudurak did the same.

"Thank you for patching me up." Kudurak said silently.

"No problem. I couldn't just leave you there to die."

"Any idea where we are?"

"Not really. Most I could see was the train tracks ahead and a small frozen pond a bit further up."

"And are there any supplies in the train?"

"A few. Some rations and bandages, but nothing else. I just can't believe that Twilight would do that. She split the train and left us without hesitation."

"Wait. Weren't there Unicorns holding the bridge up? Couldn't we just go to them?"

"Yeah, but they are probably asleep and they aren't exactly nearby. The train did skid quite a distance, even with a derailed car. The bridge is actually a good mile back from here."

Kudurak looked back at the train's remains. Smoke poured out of the side from an inner fire towards the rear of the train. Metal sparked and snow slowly built up along the glassless windows.

"Well. We aren't going to get help by just sitting here, are we?" Kudurak said and proceeded to get up, ignoring the extreme pain that the motion brought him. Rainbow nodded and wiped her tears. She got up and followed Kudurak into the blizzard ahead.

The blizzard was fierce. Snow built up in the folds of their jackets and their breaths became easily visible. The snow began to fly directly towards them, causing Kudurak to squint his eyes. Rainbow Dash followed close behind, holding her hoof to one of Kudurak's leather braces.

"Where are we going?!" Rainbow Dash shouted to Kudurak, the blizzard severely affecting their hearing.

"Hopefully to the home of one of the unicorn guards." Kudurak replied as he peered through the thick wall of snow.

The blizzard was relentless, smashing heavy amounts of snow and ice into both of the Pegasi. The fog before them caused the view to be severely reduced to the point of them not being able to see far past their muzzles. The winds blew them back and forced them to use their wings as a shield against the barrage of icy bullets that rained down on them. All the time Kudurak was still in severe pain from the wounds in his body. During this time, Kudurak had this odd feeling. Like there was something off about this place. He felt like a force was building up in his skull, pushing at the edges of his cranium and causing his head to throb intensely. Frost built up in front of his nose and his eyes could barely keep open. There was a very faint trail marked underneath him, pebbles barely visible through the thick layer of snow. Yet despite all of this, he still pushed forward. He didn't know why but he felt something towards this Pegasus he was with. Something about her interested him.

Rainbow stayed a few paces behind Kudurak, making sure to never break sight of him. She found a sense of comfort in his presence, although she still had to deal with the knowledge that she would not be herself much longer. The bite throbbed and swelled frequently and painfully. It was like a welt on her neck. Her cloak covered much of her body so that she would be protected from the ice. She began to think about how the stallion in front of her had kept her safe from the elements, even going so far as to willingly let her have the cloak during the hike to the nearest town. Just as she began to think all would be alright, she saw something. Kudurak was only a few hooves ahead of her, but Rainbow saw something around him, like a shadowy figure. The figure walked almost in his footsteps. It was four times as tall as him and it had outstretched wings the size of Princess Celestia's body. The shadowy shape of the mane was exceedingly long. She felt her eyes pain when she saw the dark figure, and her eyesight narrowed a bit. The poison was starting to affect her eyes. Before she could look away, the figure turned its head towards her. Sharp, piercing red eyes glared at Rainbow Dash as if staring directly into her soul. They squinted at her and an evil smile began to materialize from the shadow. It wasn't until this moment that she realized that the figure was not a Pegasus, it was an Alicorn. The Alicorn, however, was not just regular Alicorn. The forehooves looked as if they had thick armor plating and the eyes had a dark essence pouring from them. Vertical pupils stared at her for what seemed like an eternity before she snapped back to reality and realized that the shadow was nonexistent. 'What was that…?' she thought.

Kudurak forced himself onward, the snow still pushing him back when it could. His strength would not last him much longer.

"Well. It seems like you are in quite a situation…" an eerie voice said.

Kudurak stopped and glared around to find the source of the cryptic uttering. He scanned the area until his eyes locked with a pair of acid green eyes supported by a shadow.

"Who are you?" Kudurak demanded.

"It would seem that you are headed to my kingdom, are you not?" The shadow replied.

"I said: Who are you?" Kudurak demanded again.

"Oh dear, I believe you do not know of me. I am King Sombra. I used to rule the Crystal Empire in eternal darkness until those dreaded Regal Sisters invaded my kingdom and broke my body. But that is not the… oh my." Sombra said as he noticed the massive shadow hovering around Kudurak. The Red eyes glared at Sombra without effort. "You… I find it best that I get you to where you need to go, and quickly." Sombra quickly found himself saying. "If you follow the path you are headed, you will reach a town in a few hundred meters. Ask for Shade. He will help you."

"Why are you helping me? You are the once cruel leader of an entire empire and now you help us to a town? I find this very suspicious." Kudurak replied with a hint of disgust towards the shadow he was speaking to.

"My L… Kudurak. I feel that it is important that you find Shade as soon as possible." Sombra said with hesitation. He knew what had happened and he did not want to cause anything to happen before it was meant to.

"How do you know my name?" Kudurak asked with a curious expression. "I never told you it."

The Shadow laughed a bit. "I know a many things. Being eternally bound to a shadow gives one time to learn. The fact that I know your name is merely a formality at this point, as you are currently losing your body temperature. It would be best if you took my advice and followed the trail to the town."

Kudurak stared at Sombra's shadow for a bit before slightly nodding and turning to walk in the indicated direction. They had quite the journey to travel and not much time to do it.

Suddenly, Sombra spoke one last time.

"Oh and I almost forgot, that Rainbow Dash you are with? She has a few secrets, so don't think that she's all that innocent."

"hmph." Kudurak grunted as if ignoring the shadow's statement, and continued along the trail. Sombra's shadow slowly faded as the two Pegasi forced themselves to follow the trail.

Chapter 8- Flare

Twilight woke up from a deep sleep. It had been a day since she had split the train car to save her princess, but she remembered none of it. The last thing she remembered was seeing Rainbow Dash crash into the window on the bridge. She had blacked out after that. She found herself lying down a mere two feet from the splintered wood of the train car's floorboards. She gasped and jumped back, fearing she would fall from the car. She glanced around to get her bearings. The train had since left the blizzard area, and now there was an abundance of autumn leaves and lush grasses. Birds flew alongside the train and continued by, and the light from the sun shone through the tree branches to create a harmonious setting around the train. A draft set into the car and left Twilight uneasy. 'Where is Kudurak?' she thought to herself. 'and what of Rainbow?' This puzzled her, but not as much as the fact that the train car was cut in half and the princess lay in a weakened slumber next to the farthest seat. Her eyes showed traces of tears as if she had wept before falling asleep. Her wound was still scarred, but it was no longer open. Twilight rushed over to the princess, carefully patting her to get her up.

"Princess!" Twilight begged, "What happened? Did someone attack us?"

The Regal Sister slowly awoke from her slumber to find a worried Twilight standing over her. Quickly recovering from her drowsy spell, she sprung up to her hooves and cast a magical chain around Twilight, the yellow glowing chains grasping and squeezing Twilight tightly and she was quickly levitated into the air. Blood began to leak from underneath the chains as it grew tighter, and the Princess had a glare of anger aimed straight for her student. Blind fury enveloped the princess's eyes.

"YOU!" Celestia growled, "You insolent foal! You dare hold me back and desert your friend?! You may have killed them both for all we know!" She continued to growl and scold Twilight while the chains grew tighter and tighter. Twilight's eyes began to fill with blood, and she had a look of extreme fear, her eyes begging for her majesty to stop the torture.

"I can't tell you the amount of animosity I have towards you right now! I…I… RAGH!" She continued to scream until her body began to flare up and Twilight could feel an immense amount of heat building up in the train car. Sparks ignited from the Princess's white coat, and soon small flames began to envelop the royal mare. Her eyes glowed a deep orange. Her mane suddenly lit ablaze and her body erupted in fire. Celestia's voice became distorted and sounded as if even her throat was blitzed by the roaring flames around her.

"You will pay for your actions, Twilight Sparkle! And pay you will, with your LIFE!" She screamed in a blind fury. The flames growing ever larger until the entire train car was practically an inferno. Twilight began to cry and saw that her princess was no longer herself.

"Princess, No!" Twilight pleaded with a heavy mass of tears pooling in her eyes. "I don't know what happened! Please!"

The princess stood holding the chains with an extremely powerful spell of magic. She stopped bringing them tighter, and let go of the student filly.

"Let this be a warning to you, for this is my equivalent to Luna's Nightmare Moon form. I am Solar Flare. If you dare do this sort of thing to me again, I will be sure that you don't see the next sunrise." Solar Flare growled with a crackle in her voice. Twilight had never seen this horrifying form before and never wanted to again. Solar Flare dismissed the chains and faded the flames enveloping her body. She returned to her Royal self and stood over Twilight, who was still coughing up blood from the intense pressure that she had placed upon the heavy chains. A look of disappointment sprawled across her face while she gazed down at the beaten filly.

"I pray for your sake that you never do this again."

Twilight lay on the ground in pain. Blood dripped out of the various cuts and scratches that peppered her body. She coughed up a bit of blood and looked up at the Princess with a look of heartache and fear. She would never forget this moment, for she had never feared the Princess more. But what could she have done that made the Princess act so furiously? A better question yet, what happened to the other half of the train car?

"Princess?" Twilight asked with a bit of blood still in her mouth.

"hmm?" Celestia replied, a look of disgust still apparent.

"What did I do, anyway?"

"Wait. You mean you don't remember what happened?" Celestia inquired with a surprised look on her face.

"No, Princess, I don't remember a thing. I blacked out while Kudurak was tending to Rainbow Dash."

"Strange…"

Celestia took a few steps forward to the gaping hole in front of her. A smoggy wind blew through the open windows and through the now halved train car. She gazed at the leaves falling behind them as the train chugged along the track to the wondrous Crystal Empire. The princess cleared her throat, causing her fearful student to angle her head towards her with a questioning look. Celestia closed her eyes and bowed her head. She knew something wasn't right, and she felt that she had better tell her student of what might happen.

"Twilight, my dear," She began. "You have been the most faithful student I could have asked for. You have faced the most perilous terrors that Equestria could possibly offer. Even in the toughest times you never gave up hope. I know you can handle anything I ask of you."

"Where are you going with this, princess?" Twilight asked.

"There is a chance that you may have to do something I hoped you would never have to do."

"What do you want of me?"

"My sister and I are connected with every city in Equestria. Our powers allow us to know events occurring anywhere at any time. That being said, the Crystal Empire holds a secret that only we know of. This secret of ours has the potential to completely ruin all of Equestria. It could turn the entire land to ashes, and nothing would remain. Luckily, we have imprisoned it so that no harm could be done, but I fear that it will not be held much longer. If this secret was to be discovered and released as I fear it has…"

Celestia turned her head so that she could see her student. Her eyes flashed open as she spoke with a serious, unwavering tone.

"You will have to destroy the Crystal Empire where it stands."

Chapter 9- Folds

The sky slowly began to clear as the two shivering, frostbitten Pegasi found their way to the run down arctic town. Wooden buildings sat in the snow, the log walls caked with layers of snow and ice. Iron lanterns swung furiously in the winds, and lights faintly shown through the worn, fogged glass windows. Icicles hung from every roof and the path was all but buried below the knee-deep snow. Kudurak paid no attention to the houses, but Rainbow found herself looking at each window, wondering who could possibly live in such an environment. Eyes peered through the windows as they passed, and soon Rainbow found herself feeling uncomfortable.

The Two made their way to a dimly lit cottage that seemed to stand out from the others. Iron chains replaced wood guardrails and smoke crept out of the cracks in the splintered wood walls. Through the heavily fogged window, a pair of bold, red eyes glared at them as they approached. Kudurak squinted in an attempt to see the mysterious viewer more clearly, but his efforts were in vain. Rainbow stood behind Kudurak, knowing well that there was a lot to fear about this place. Her headstrong attitude and bold personality had all but faded to nothing since her realization that her life was coming to a close. She instead found herself acting like Fluttershy. She had become more timid and hid herself beneath her cloak.

Kudurak moved carefully so as to not to cause a ruckus. A slight crunch from the thick sheet of hardened snow was all the noise he made. He managed to keep his metallic gear from clanking around while he moved. Just as he was about to reach the front step of the cottage, Kudurak felt a heavy thud against his side and his wing was forced open for a second. When he turned to see what happened, he found Rainbow Dash under his wing, scared to death. She looked up fearfully at the dark stallion before nudging him forward and nuzzling into his fur. Her rainbow mane draped over one eye and only one of the bright violet eyes was visible. Kudurak looked at her for a moment and questioned her motives. She was never this soft in the stories he had heard, and he couldn't figure out why she was so frightened.

"I-It's cold..." Rainbow said quietly, "I need more warmth... is all…"

Kudurak turned his head to the cottage door. "Once we get inside, we should be alright," he said, "I guarantee that the owners of the cottage have some sort of fireplace. "

"If you say so…"

Kudurak nodded and redirected his attention to the cottage. He proceeded to ascend the front steps and knocked on the wooden door. Within moments, the door opened to reveal a tall, grey unicorn with large red eyes and a greasy spiked mane. He stood a good 2 inches over Kudurak as he glared unwaveringly at the Pegasus. He stood there for what felt like a small eternity before a word was spoken.

"What do you want?" The unicorn asked bluntly. "Can't you see that there is a blizzard about?"

"Yes. We noticed," Kudurak replied. "We hope we are not bothering you, but we are travelers from Canterlot and we have been abandoned here and we are in desperate need of assistance. Can you help us?"

"Hmm… I will help you, but there is something you must do for me, first."

"What would you have of us?"

"Well. It is more of a promise that you will do something for me. You see, I am in charge of raising and lowering the bridge over the Forgotten Crevice. You know. It's the one that the trains cross over, and most likely you used it as well. Anyway, recently there has been a noticeable amount of magic pooling in the crevice and it has given the townsfolk worry. Tomorrow when the storm clears I would like you to investigate it for me."

"Consider it done."

"Thank you. By the way, I am called Shade and you may address me as such."

The tall unicorn stepped aside to let them though. Kudurak let Rainbow in first and then cautiously walked behind her. Shade led the two up a log staircase to the guest bedroom. He opened the bedroom door and let them through, then closed the door behind them. Rainbow looked at the single king bed and turned to Kudurak.

"There is only one bed here," She said. "Do you want the bed or-"

"We can share it," Kudurak responded. "It's just for the night and there is plenty of space."

He nudged Rainbow to one side of the bed while he took the other. A good few feet were between them and they both fell asleep within seconds. The day had been all too long for the two, and it was merely a relief that they could finally rest.


End file.
